Ron, In the 'Saturday morning quote' you put on line today and publicised (as usual) on this forum, you speak of historically informed performance in relation to an Air de cour by Guédron entitled 'Bien qu'un cruel martire'. You claim that 'When the modern editor André Verchaly published his collection of airs, he transposed the keyboard transcription of the lute part to fit the key of the voice part in Batailleâs original print.' This is not true at all. The rendition in staff notation (why do you automatically think 'keyboard' when you see real notes rather than tablature?) is exactly what Bataille published in his 'Airs de differents autheurs'. If you look closely at the tablature, the first note for the singer is given before the time signature. In the piece you refer to, the note indicated is an open fourth course. If one assumes a lute at the nominal pitch of a', then the first note for the singer is a G, which is exactly what Verchaly has indicated, identical to Bataille's printed Air and lute. Your assumption of 'a lute tuned in our modern standard of âGâ' is fallacious. These airs would have been accompanied by lutes of various pitches to fit the singing voice.
The top note in the piece is a G5, hardly 'stratospheric' or 'dog-whistle range' as you call it. We do not know what the accepted pitch was at the time (if indeed there was a standard pitch) but it is very likely that it would have been lower than modern pitch of a' at 440. This music is commonly played at a' 415 today. Why do you refer to 'Airs de Court' on your CD rather than 'Airs de cour' ? Is there some kind of connection with a tennis match ? Matthew On 15/10/2016 16:26, Ron Andrico wrote: We have posted our Saturday morning quote and offer a HIP score. [1][1]http://wp.me/p15OyV-3wS Ron & Donna -- References 1. [2]http://wp.me/p15OyV-3wS -- References 1. http://wp.me/p15OyV-3wS 2. http://wp.me/p15OyV-3wS To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
